First Look at The Defenders Promises More Marvel Netflix Action

After years of build-up, we’ve finally gotten our first look at the upcoming Netflix super-series from Marvel, The Defenders. The company has been building toward this for some time beginning with the reboot of Daredevil in 2015. We’ve known for a while that all of the Netflix shows were working toward a grand, Avengers-style team-up and the wait is almost over.

Marvel just dropped the first trailer for the upcoming show, and it looks like the build-up is going to be worth it. The show throws together all the heroes that have gotten their own shows up to this point as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist join forces to save New York in a fight against evil. The show will also bring back many of the most important side characters we’ve seen so far, including Misty Knight, Claire Temple, and Elektra. It looks like they’ll be facing off against the powerful Alexandra (played by Sigourney Weaver), but many of the other details remain shrouded in mystery.

Marvel took a big risk when it decided it was going to make dedicated Netflix shows for some of its lesser-known heroes, but it seems the risk has paid off big time. All of the shows have been well received by fans and critics alike, and have even done the impossible task of making people forget about Ben Affleck’s unfortunate Daredevil movie back in 2003. Even so, it’s been hard to shake the film’s influence, because you can still find evidence of it in the world of online games.

One licensed slot reel based on the movie requires players to invoke their inner Daredevil, because it features the hero’s radar senses, his trademark billy clubs, and an interactive Bullseye feature that introduces the archenemy of the Man Without Fear. This is actually one of the only video games based on the character, and many are hoping Marvel will try again due to his new popularity thanks to the Netflix show. With so many great characters available, it would be a huge missed opportunity should we not get a video game based on the small-screen superteam.

On top of making Daredevil cool again, the series also resurrected Elektra from the somehow-worse 2005 film starring Jennifer Garner. Marvel had its work cut out for it, and has succeeded with flying colors. Not only did it revive these two languishing characters, but it also introduced Jessica Jones to a whole new audience that had probably never heard of the heroine before, not to mention making household names out of Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Even more impressive has been how Marvel has woven all these disparate characters together in a series of adventures that all culminate with The Defenders.

And it’s more than just the heroes that will be coming together. It looks as though many of the villains we’ve seen will make appearances, including the shadowy ninja order known as the Hand and Madame Gao from Iron Fist. It’s been strongly hinted that there’s a larger force that has been pulling many of the strings behind the bad guys of the other shows. Whether or not that force is Sigourney Weaver’s Alexandra remains to be seen.

All this and more will be answered when everything comes together at the end of the summer. It’s been a long time coming, and if the new show is even half as good as its separate parts, then fans will be in for a treat. The Defenders hits Netflix on August 18, 2017.